


The Reset Game

by orphan_account



Category: OnlyOneOf (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Not K-Pop Idols, Angst and Humor, Fluff, Gen, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Implied Relationships, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, Minor Injuries, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-13
Updated: 2019-12-13
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:01:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 7,746
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21774133
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: It is said that if you die, you reset.Whatever that means.
Relationships: Lee Taeyeob | Yoojung & Lee Yongsu | Mill
Comments: 5
Kudos: 13





	1. -1

**"Seven students from 8D University based in Seoul, South Korea found dead, cause of death seems to be from the worldwide phenomenon, the _Reset Game._ Please scroll down for more information."**

Yoojung jumps up from his comfortable spot on his bed, throwing his phone down on the carpet in the process. He runs a shaky hand through his hair and stares off at the floor. 

"Hey dude, you doing alright?"

Yoojung jumps again from being startled and turns to the source of the sound. _"Just Yongsu."_ he thinks. _"I'm okay."_

"Yeah. I was just getting my stuff ready so we can head out," the brown haired male hesitantly replies. Yongsu nods and starts walking towards the kitchen. Probably to make that _damn_ coffee he has been crying over for days. 

When Yoojung reaches to grab the satchel that is laying on his bed, he briefly remembers the article that he was reading just a few minutes ago. The mere thought of it sends a chill going down his body. He rushes to pick up the device and slides it into his back pocket, completely missing the new text that popped up on the screen. He does one final run down of what he needs before heading for the kitchen. He thinks about closing his bedroom door, but goes against it in the end.

•••

The weather looks pretty decent outside. It's sunny and slightly cloudy with a nice breeze, but it still looks good nonetheless. He really wishes that he had his good camera with him.

He's taken out of his thoughts when he feels his phone vibrate, and he reaches in his back pocket to retrieve it.

**Unsaved Number**  
_Pay close attention to what is happening around you. It will come in handy for you later._

His legs turn weak and he almost drops to the ground, but he feels arms wrap around his waist. "Are you sure you're feeling okay? You've been looking paranoid since I checked up on you this morning," Yongsu asks. Yoojung lets out a huge breath and unwraps from the arms around him. He's contemplating on whether or not he should tell him about what he's read earlier. "I'm fine, it's that-"

Police cars, ambulances, and fire trucks zoom past the two boys, followed by a _huge_ crowd of people. The crowd eventually grows bigger and before they know it, they're being pushed around and away from each other. Before Yoojung can get his mind together, he feels a hand hold onto his and suddenly he's being pulled to the side and away from the commotion. He turns around and he sees Yongsu smiling up at him. "Where's my thank you? I totally saved your ass from getting trampled."

The brown haired male jokingly rolls his eyes and chuckles. "Thank yourself."

He really should be thanking his red headed roommate right now, but his eyes catch onto the big wooden sign above the other males head and steals his attention. "KB's?" he says aloud.

A blond head of hair peaks out from behind the door that's behind Yongsu, and soon after, a man who looks to be around their age steps outside of the building. He has an annoyed expression on his face and he looks like he's five seconds away from slamming someone.

"Can I help you?" the man says. Yoojung sees his roommate flinch a little and turn around and he stifles a laugh on the back of his hand. The man takes another good look at the taller male and straightens his act up. Yoojung quickly collects himself and steps forward. "I'm sorry if we're bothering you, but do you know what's going on out there?" he asks while looking down at the nametag on the mans shirt. _Kyubin._

'Kyubin' makes a weirded out face at him and waves them inside, "Before I say anything, please just guess how old I am." The roommates exchange a look with each other and Yongsu speaks up, "25 maybe?"

The blond laughs out loud and pats at Yongsu's back quite harshly, earning him an awkward smile. "Close. I'm 27 and I go to school with you guys. Why does everyone act like they've never seen me before?" 'Kyubin' says, saying the last sentence quietly to himself. "But anyway," he continues, "I'm not sure if you guys have noticed, but there have been deaths at and around campus all week. Hey you, artsy looking boy, you're Lee Taeyeob right?"

Yoojung's eyes widen and he points a finger at himself. "Me? Yeah, I'm Taeyeob."

'Kyubin' claps his hands together loudly. "Your name has been all over newspapers, my guy."


	2. -2

Yoojung’s eyes pop open and he is brought into a huge fit of coughing. “I’m- What?”

‘Kyubin’ nods once and walks off to the corner of the little workshop he has going on and pulls a pile of newspapers off the top of the small table set right there. He comes back to where Yoojung and Yongsu are standing frozen and pushes the papers onto Yoojungs chest.

Yoojung takes a newspaper, gives the rest to Yongsu, and reads the front cover of the one that he has in his hands. “...The seven boys found dead revealed to be Shin Kyubin... Park Jisung... Lee Sungho... Lee Taeyeob? What?” 

He stops. 

“How is this even possible? I’m _right here._ I’m standing right here in front of you, I can’t be going crazy right now,” Yoojung says with a shaky voice. Yongsu puts a hand on his shoulder, “My name is on here too. Hey, aren’t you Shin Kyubin?” he says to the blond male standing with his hands clasped behind his back.

“Yep, In the flesh. But if I were you, I wouldn’t really believe it. You know how iffy these companies are,” Kyubin says. 

Yongsu turns to his roommate and looks him up with worry on his face. He's really concerned about the other boy, and since this is the first time they've _actually_ hung out together, he feels as if he should really keep an eye out for his behavior. Just to take note for future reference. "Hey man, we're gonna head home now but just to be safe, can you come with us?" Yongsu offers. "Wow, this is the first time someone has asked me to stay with them. I'm honored!" Kyubin jokes. Yoojung huffs out a laugh and starts walking for the door.

Everything is happening all so quick. Just this morning he was reading this stupid article about this stupid "game," then he almost got stepped on by a bunch of overly excited college students, and now he's apparently associated with deaths he has no part of. What did he do to deserve this?

The sound of bullets hitting glass sounds around him and hes being snapped out of his thoughts from being roughly pushed out of the building. "Yongsu? Yongsu-"

Kyubin puts a hand in front of his mouth to shush him and ushers him in Yongsu's direction. He almost misses some black figure point in their direction and hop in a van. The red haired male is leading them back to the direction of their dorm building and uses one of the newspapers as a shield. "I have no idea what's going on, but we need to get the hell out of here," Yongsu states. Spoke too soon. Yoojung sees a black SUV speed up to them from the corner of his eye and he starts to pick up his pace to catch up to his roommate. "Can you run any slower?" he banters. "I can, actually," Yongsu returns. Kyubin catches up to them and pushes the two forward with both hands. "Do you guys wanna get turned into a fresh Christmas dinner? If not, stop acting like a married couple and hurry it up."

It's gonna be a long day.

•••

It has sure been a long day.

Kyubin decided for them not to go to their dorms just incase they're being followed, and instead has them stop to eat at a McDonald's at a town center close to campus. After eating, they stopped at Kyubin's place (so that he can pick something up) and then finally went home. As soon as they got home, Yoojung threw himself on the couch and has been asleep ever since. He didn't even take off his shoes or anything.

He's finally woken up when he feels Yongsu gently rocking his shoulder with his hand. He opens his eye a little to see him standing in front of him with a glass of water in the hand that isn't shaking him. He closes his eye again and starts pretending to be asleep. Yongsu gradually starts to shake his shoulder more aggressively when he realizes that the other boy is faking being asleep. "Wake up and take this aspirin before I dump this whole thing over your head."

That's when Yoojung actually wakes up and snatches the glass from the others ~~small~~ hand and reaches over to the little end table beside the couch to take the aspirin.

He sets the half empty glass down after drinking and looks around his area for his phone. Yongsu lets out a small 'oh' and reaches in his back pocket to take out Yoojung's phone and holds it out in front of him. "I was gonna give it back to you earlier because you dropped it but you were... occupied, so I just held it."

That's one of the best parts about living with other people. They're able to take care of you when you aren't in the right state to do so, even though Yoojung is actually well, it's still convenient. He makes a mental note to repay him back later. 

Yoojung gives him a small smile and takes his phone from his ~~adorably small~~ hand. He leans back on the couch and unlocks his phone to check his messages, and maybe scroll through Twitter. He tilts his head to the left a little when he sees that he's put in a group chat with 3 other people. His question is answered when he sees Yongsu and Kyubin exchange a few messages, and a few messages from some person named 'Nine.' He saves both Kyubin and Nine's numbers as a contact for later use. 

Yongsu quickly picks his head up and hastily moves to grab his shoes, jacket, and keys. "I really need to do some grocery shopping today since there's nothing really left to do. Text me if you need anything."

Yoojung gives him the OK and lays back down on the couch once the front door slams shut.

He doesn't plan on doing anything else for the rest of the day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you have any questions or criticism, please ask/tell me, it'll let me know what you guys want or don't want <3


	3. -3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is gonna be a more calmer chapter. Enjoy it while it lasts~

Walking out of his last class for the day, Yoojung lets out an exasperated breath and starts heading for the bathroom. Before class, he bumped into a girl holding an iced coffee and it spilled between them everywhere. He didn't have time to wash his hands before, since he was already _right_ in front of his class.

He walks in the bathroom and heads for the sink, using his teeth to pull up the sleeves of his black hoodie. He turns on the sink and watches the sticky substance fall down into the drain, and lets the sweet smell of coffee fill his nose. 

He looks up at the mirror above him to make sure that he doesn't have any stray hairs sticking out of place before he leaves to go get something to eat and then go back home. He sees the same black figure behind him, so he focuses all his attention to it. The figure turns around and he's wearing the same black hoodie that he is, and the same single silver cuff earring that he wore when he was in high school.

_No, this can't be...?_

"Hey, Taeyeob!"

And magically, the figure is gone and instead, Kyubin is walking into the bathroom with a huge smile on his face. He wonders why he's so happy.

"Hey, and please call me Yoojung, if you don't mind."

Kyubin gives him the OK gesture and waves for him to come out. Yoojung starts to feel a bit suspicious when the other links their arms together and starts walking for the back exit. "Why are we going this way? The entrance is up there?" he asks and Kyubin chuckles, "You're very correct, but I'm meeting up with a friend. And I don't have time to be going through entrances," he says, saying the last sentence in a voice that sounds slightly like Yoojung's. Does he even sound like that?

"Besides," he continues, "You'll like him. Hopefully."

Yoojung slowly nods and puts his open hand out in front of his eyes to stop the sun from beating up his eyesight as soon as they step outside. "Where's your friend? The little red hair dude. He's cute."

Yoojung laughs. "I think he's at home. I can call him to meet with us if you want me to?"

Kyubin gives him a thumbs up, and they continue walking to their destination.

• • •

After walking for nearly 10 minutes, they make it to this little nature themed cafe where they meet up with a guy with slightly long and wavy auburn hair, and sort of resembles a fox in the face. Yoojung thinks he's adorable. He then goes to find out that fox-dude is Nine, or Wookjin. Eventually, Yongsu gets there and immediately hits it off with Nine. They're already bickering about whether or not you can safely step on a Lego, or something like that. 

"You can! I'm telling you, you just have to plan it," Yongsu argues.

"I plan to study for quizzes, yet I still fail them. You can't," Nine says in return.

"What the hell do quizzes have to do with Lego's?"

Kyubin and Yoojung erupt into laughter, which sparks up the need for the younger two to be more aggressive. What first was a little friendly argument turned into a huge debate. Even with the attention of the other people in the cafe, they still don't quiet down. The debate finally comes to a close when a guy with long blond hair comes with a little notepad to take their orders. 

"Hi, welcome to Sage, what can I get for you?"

Kyubin looks to all of them before speaking up. "I'll just have three small sweet tea's, please." 

The blond guy writes it down and gives them a small smile, going back to behind the counter. Yongsu turns to the oldest, "Why only 3?"

"I just wanted to be nice. Think of it as a 'thank you' gift," Kyubin says, putting his elbows on the table and holding his head with his hands. Yoojung, Yongsu, and Nine all collectively start to shake their hands no and object the favor. Kyubin just laughs at them.

The waiter soon comes back with their drinks on a small silver plate, and Kyubin pulls out his wallet and takes out a 10 dollar bill. He tells the waiter to keep the change. 

After a few minutes of quiet, Yoojung clears his throat in Kyubin's direction to grab his attention. When he gets it, he speaks up. "What's that building that we were in 2 days ago? 'KB's.'"

"That's my dads wood workshop building. He named it after what my parents called me as a child, and I guess I just started working there on days I'm not busy."

Suddenly, Kyubin's chair is scraping the floor and he's up and out of his seat, gesturing for Nine to come follow him. "I think we have to go now. I left something there and Nine has the key to the building."

Nine says a little 'yeah,' and he's out his seat too and on Kyubin and Yoojung's side of the table they're sitting at. Yongsu nods in understanding and gets up too. After Kyubin and Nine leave out saying bye, Yongsu and Yoojung are collecting their things and leaving a few minutes after, never forgetting to wave goodbye to the blond waiter.

As they're walking in silence, Yongsu nudges Yoojung with his elbow. "I've been curious lately about how you're holding up with everything."

Yoojung anxiously rubs at the back of his own neck and shakes his head. He hates for people to be worried about him. He doesn't want people to feel like they're babysitting him and his problems.

"You were so... talkative and loud and then after I checked up on you that one day, you stopped?"

Yoojung doesn't say a word. He continues walking with his head down and hands in his pockets. From the corner of his eye, he sees Yongsu frown and grip onto the straps of his bookbag. 

At least he's sorry.


	4. -4

After such a long and tiresome few months of school, they're finally out for break. Everyone Yoojung has came across was looking forward to finally going back home and relaxing. Everyone but him.

For two days straight, he's been avoiding Yongsu at all costs ever since that day at Sage. He doesn't even know why he doesn't want to speak to the younger boy anymore. He feels like he's overreacting.

He's standing outside his shared dorm, rummaging through his satchel and humming the melody of some song he heard earlier. He hears rustling on the other side, and then hears the familiar click of the front door, and it is soon opened by Yongsu, who is wearing a full set of Christmas pajamas. Looks like he didn't expect him to be back so soon, Yoojung usually goes to a cafe right after classes. The awkward silence is enough to make the red haired man speak up.

"Gotta get in the spirit, haha."

Yoojung awkwardly smiles, and Yongsu steps to the side to let the taller man through. They exchange a few looks before Yongsu is pulling at his jacket sleeve to get his attention. Yippee, confrontation.

He leads him to the couch and sits him down, following right after. 

"Please tell me what's wrong?" Yongsu says softly. Yoojung starts rubbing at his knuckles and looks down at the floor, beginning to count how many red pieces there are to the rug. 

"Look at me."

Once again, yippee, confrontation.

Yoojung turns his head to look at his roommate, and his heart almost breaks at how he carries so much worry in his eyes.

It isn't even intentional. Everything happened so quickly, and he hasn't found the time to process things. He's really starting to believe that he is overreacting.

"I'm sorry. I don't think I've been transparent about how I've been feeling. It's only been what, a week? A week and a half? And I've seen so much. Just two days ago I saw a guy who looked _exactly_ like me, and before that I was getting messages from this number telling me to-"

"Okay! Yoojung I get it, really. All you had to do was say sorry, not tell me your whole life story," Yongsu says in between laughs. Yoojung laughs nervously and rubs at the back of his neck. 

"Laugh, man! Your awkwardness is killing me!"

Yongsu gets up on his knees and leans over to tickle the taller man, bringing out some genuine laughter.

"Wait, wait."

Yongsu stops poking at the man's side, and sits back in his previous position. "Why are you forgiving me so easily... Don't you feel like I was being childish?"

Yongsu runs a hand through his hair and smiles brightly at him, "I'm forgiving you because it's not a big deal. I understand that it's a new situation for you and as a friend, I need to be patient. Plus you're my only source of good working headphones."

"Wait, my headphones were missing?"

Their time gets interrupted when there's a knock at the door. Yongsu pushes Yoojung's shoulders down to make him sit and he goes to open the door to see who it is.

Kyubin pushes the door open with his foot and he roughly yanks Yoojung off the couch by the arm. "Hurry up and pack your stuff up, we don't have much time."

The two roommates are left standing there in confusion, but it doesn't last long. They nod at each other and head to their separate rooms to pack up their essential items. Yoojung makes sure to bring duplicates of everything just in case.

When they're done, they meet at Kyubin's car, waiting to get their next instructions. 

"Why are you two just standing there like placeholder sims? Get in!" Kyubin barks. Yongsu giggles out a faint 'yes ma'am' and gets his arm gently slapped by Yoojung in return. 

They're barely in their seatbelts before Kyubin starts driving to God knows where. He occasionally looks at them through the rear view mirror to make sure they're doing fine. "The plan for today is to pick up Nine, and then take you guys somewhere safe. I'll be gone for a while after that. Shouldn't be longer than a week."

"But why?" Yongsu asks.

"You'll find out some other time. Either by me, or by yourselves."

The two just accept it as it is, and sit back in their seats, watching the little shops and trees go by their windows. Kyubin eventually makes a stop in front of a convenience store where Nine is standing with earbuds in. He notices the familiar car and starts jogging towards it.

"I'm so happy you weren't late this time, this woman was just watching me through the window because I accidentally took the last bag of banana chips that she wanted," Nine says, making quotations with his fingers on "accidentally." "Hi, you two!"

Yongsu and Yoojung wave at him with suspicious looks on their faces, and he waves back. They can almost see Kyubin regret every single one of his life choices from the front mirror.

"Like what I told these two earlier, once I drop you guys off I'm gonna be off to run some things. Shouldn't take me longer than a week," Kyubin says again. 

He starts driving and after a few minutes of them wishing that they don't feel any more speed bumps, they arrive in front of an expensive-looking apartment complex. The three youngest look around the area in curiosity, and Kyubin clears his throat. "Nine, I sent you directions. Please get there safely and if _anything_ happens, don't be afraid to call me."

They start to gather their stuff and begin to follow Nine to wherever Kyubin has them staying at. 

After walking past some buildings, they reach their own and walk up the three flights of stairs. They never thought that they'd be going up this many stairs again after school let out, but here they are. 

They reach a red painted front door, and Nine pushes in some sort of password to unlock it. They barely get to the living room before Yongsu flings his stuff to some corner of the house and kicks his shoes off to lay right smack in the middle of the floor. 

"I don't wanna do anything else after today," he groans, "But hey, Nine?"

"Yep?"

"Since you've known Kyubin longer than we have, why is he so - I don't know - on the look out?" 

Nine sighs and leans back against the wall leading to the kitchen. "You should really ask him yourself. All I can tell you is that Yoojung-"

Beep.

Yoojung whispers a quick apology and takes his phone from out his back pocket.

**"Seven students from 8D University based in Seoul, South Korea found dead, cause of death seems to be from the worldwide phenomenon, the Reset Game. Please scroll down for more information."**


	5. -5

Yoojung feels like he's been zoned out for hours. He tries not to think much of the notification, maybe his phone is fucked up and he's getting repeated notifications.

He forces out the most convincing giggle he can muster so that they won't worry too much about him. When he doesn't get any signs of confusion, he unlocks his phone to read the article. 

Last time he got the article, it said that the deaths were in the woods close to the school, but this time, the article says that the deaths were at a town center. So maybe it isn't his phone acting stupid.

"Hey, Yoojung," Yongsu calls and he picks his head up, "What was it that you were reading on your phone the other day? You seemed really freaked out about it."

The question really caught Yoojung off guard, but at this point in time he most definitely must know about that whole "game." He's been seeing the name everywhere. 

"Have you heard about the "Reset Game" thing? About the deaths of the seven boys that keep popping up on news sites and channels?" 

Yongsu rolls his eyes and waves his hand. " _That?_ You're scared of _that_ thing? I thought that you were getting those texts from old women again."

"But it's still scary! Do you ever notice how its the same seven people dying? And didn't the papers that Kyubin give us say that we were the ones who died?" Yoojung says while pushing himself off the wall he was previously leaning on.

Yongsu (quite aggressively) gets up from where we was sitting and dramatically stomps over to stand in front of Yoojung. "He could've just been messing around with us!"

"We only knew him for 5 minutes!"

Nine walks to stand in between the two who are making themselves into embarrassments by arguing. "Yongsu, sit down. I'm surprised you didn't knock yourself over with the way you stood up so quickly," he says, "And Yoojung, As long as no one comes up to us about it, the best thing we can do is leave it be."

Yoojung huffs and he leans over to put his hands on his knees. When was the last time he slept properly? He feels so tired and worn out. They're supposed to be on break, but he's out here busting his ass for people he only knew for a few days.

Yoojung stands up to his full height and moves around the two males to go over to the kitchen and check out what they have stored to eat. He makes it halfway through the entry before Nine speaks.

"I forgot to mention. I have sandwich stuff in my bag until we can go out to get real food. I'll make us something to eat. You two go and unpack."

Yongsu goes to get his bag in some random corner of the living room, and Yoojung grips his bag strap tightly before they say a short "thank you" and head to the first hallway that they see. Who could say no to getting a chance to relax, and have food made for you?

There's a long wall lined up with three doors, which are assumed to be bedroom doors. "Since we don't know the living situation, shouldn't we just ask Nine?" Yoojung asks.

"No way. I want to sit down somewhere comfortable as soon as possible."

Yoojung jokingly rolls his eyes, and slowly opens the middle door, which reveals a normal sized bedroom with 2 bunk beds opposite to each other, and a study table in front of a decent sized window which is in the middle of the wall, parallel to where the door is. He sees a closet door in the corner, too. He assumes that all 4 of the boys will share a room. 

Now is time for the hardest question. Top or bottom bunk?

Yongsu seems to have beat him to it, since he's going straight for the top bunk on the left of the study table. "You should take the other top bunk so we could play chicken fight, bunk bed edition," he jokes.

Now here's the con to taking the top bunk. He honestly doesn't have the time or energy to be slapped off his safe space by some red haired elf. It's whatever. "Fine, but we're not playing that."

"How did I get roomed up with the most boring person alive?" Yongsu says smiling, while climbing down the latter. "It doesn't take that long to make some sandwiches, what's he doing?" he asks after landing on the ground and _definitely_ not accidentally spraining his ankle in the process. Yoojung decides to spare him and hold in his laughter. Elf hands kind of hurt.

They exit out the room together and walk to the kitchen, where they see Nine leaning forward on the island table and talking to someone on his phone. 

"...He's around here. It's so soon though... we just got comfortable. Anyways, when are you coming back? Is Junji ok?"

Yongsu tilts his head to the side in confusion. "Who is he talking about... is he talking to Kyubin?" he whispers. Yoojung shrugs without a word and continues to tune in on the conversation.

"Right... stay safe." Nine puts his phone down and continues making sandwiches like nothing just happened. Yongsu and Yoojung look at each other, and back at Nine. Almost on queue, Nine turns around.

"Your sandwiches are almost finished, come sit down."

"How did you know we were right there?" Yoojung queries and walks to one of the bar stools. Yongsu follows.

"One, you just confirmed it, and two, you're not that good of a whisperer. Kyubin should be back in 2-3 days." Nine says. He finishes the last sandwich and manages to slide the paper towels with sandwiches to both males. "Bone app the teeth." 

Yongsu barely has the bite swallowed before he starts laughing, and eventually coughing. He, along with Nine and Yoojung, put their hands over his mouth to stop him from spitting everywhere and essentially ruining their appetite. The two boys end up following up with their own laughter.

For Yoojung, their break isn't looking that bad now.


	6. -6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did ooo ever mention where they got "Nine" from?

"Wake up!"

Yoojung gets up quickly and ends up hitting his head on the ceiling. He lets out an inhumane sound and clutches at the top of his head, slowly going to lay back down. What an amazing way to wake up.

He feels sharp kicking at his legs, and he carefully picks his head up again. He looks to the end of his bed and sees Yongsu scrambling to get from under the blankets. He doesn't understand why he has to feel the need to attack his legs while he does that, but whatever. And why isn't he even in his own bed?

Yongsu is finally down, and he grabs the Dunkin Donuts bag from Kyubin's hand. He doesn't hesitate to start digging in.

He huffs and sits up fully. He turns his body and lets his legs dangle off the edge, and what is up with them and his legs today? Kyubin harshly lands his hand on Yoojung's calf, and uses it as some sort of surface to rest his body against. 

"Hope you guys slept well, we have things to do today!" the oldest says enthusiastically.

"I would've slept better than anything in the world if you weren't there to ruin it," Yoojung says to the male eating a breakfast croissant, alluding to what happened just a few minutes ago.

Yongsu rolls his eyes and wraps the croissant back up, placing it on the study table, "There was a bug on the wall."

Yoojung exchanges a look with Kyubin, before jumping down from the top bunk and grabbing the grey towel hanging from the chair. 

• • •

"Give me my phone back!"

"Tell me I'm the best, first!" 

"Over my dead body!"

Yoojung snatches the earbuds from his ears and unbuckles his seatbelt. He reaches across the middle compartment and snatches the phone from Nine's hand. He gives Yongsu his phone back and sits back down to buckle his seat. "You two argue like a married couple."

Nine makes some sort of gagging noise, and Yoojung can almost hear Yongsu think about getting out of his seat himself to throw the male out the window. "Now I know why Kyubin calls you Nine. Your IQ is a nine!" Yongsu claims. 

"Actually, Long story short," Kyubin adds, "Me and Nine met through our parents a _long_ time ago, and apparently, he brought a litter of 9 puppies into his house and hid it from his parents. They found out, and started calling him a "father of 9," and because I hung around him and his family so much, it rubbed off onto me and I shortened it to just Nine."

Yongsu starts to snore loudly. Nine reaches his hand behind the seat and slaps his knee, "Don't be rude, he's teaching you the history of me," he says, emphasizing the last word. 

"The history of your IQ."

And there they go, back to arguing. Yoojung only raises the volume of his music hoping that his poor and precious ears don't witness the terrible one-liners that will eventually start to come out. 

After what feels like an eternity, they arrive in the grocery store parking lot. Yoojung expected them to go somewhere more, you know, "grand" with the way Kyubin chose to wake them up. 

"I recommend getting multiple jars of pickles. I heard they're a pretty big dill," Kyubin says, adding in an obnoxious laugh and a rough knee slap at the end.

Yoojung says a short and silent prayer in his head for his arms to not end up in pain from carrying all of them in terms of humor.

• • •

Did Yoojung get a good night's sleep, or is he just imagining things?

He's bringing the grocery bags out to the car, and he bumps into some guy wearing a hoodie and satchel that looks exactly like Yoojung's. Yoojung looks up, and holy shit.

He gets a better look at the guy's face.

"What the fuck!" Yoojung exclaims.

The guy in front of him turns around and takes off running, and who would Yoojung be if he didn't follow after him?

He drops the bags and runs.

He receives weird looks from people in their cars and in the parking lot, but he doesn't care. He has no time to care, he wants answers. After a while, Yoojung is behind a building, standing before his splitting image.

"Who are you?" Yoojung asks. The figure never answers and pulls out a knife from his back pocket instead.

"Don't worry about it. I've finally got you."


	7. -7

Yoojung has two choices. Either run, or defend himself. But the catch is, he could just walk right on out from behind the building and call it a day. Why would he even try to fight against someone plenty of feet away?

For safety measures, Yoojung slowly steps away from the splitting image. Once he's out, all he has to do is apologize for randomly running off. It seems that it is too late, though, when the splitting image suddenly starts to speed towards him and in no time, the knife is three inches away from slicing half of his neck off. Yoojung kicks the back of his knees in defense and makes him fall.

He bounces back quickly and picks himself right back up and aims the knife at Yoojung's thigh. Once he's fallen, he yanks at his ankle and pulls him towards himself. "Why are you trying to fight back? Don't you think you deserve this after all of the shit you put me through in the past?" he says.

Now Yoojung really must be dreaming. Why the hell is he having a conversation with _himself_? What world is he living in? 

He brings his free leg up and kicks him right in the face, making him clutch his nose in pain and fall back. 

It's like all of his prayers are being answered when he sees Kyubin rushing to the other boy. "Taeyeob, what the-" _kick_ "-fuck is wrong with you?" 

Kyubin runs up to Taeyeob and kicks him in the stomach. He groans in pain and quickly reaches to grab his knife, but Kyubin is too fast. He steps on his wrist, and Yoojung can almost hear the bones cracking and popping. 

"Hit me again and I will go back and ruin your life. Fucking try me, I dare you. I finally have him where I want him and-"

"Go away. You wanted a new life, so here you are," Kyubin spits out.

Yoojung has never been so confused in his entire life. He always knew that there was something up with Kyubin, but this really sets it. Talking about new lives and all. 

Taeyeob pulls out some green leaf from his pocket and Kyubin rushes to step back, but Taeyeob is just too fast. He holds onto Kyubin's wrist, and grabs Yoojung's wrist next. In a flash, literally, everything but the three males are turning into blurs, and colors are starting to swirl all around them. This would have to be the most beautiful thing Yoojung has ever set his eyes on. Too bad it seems like he's going to die.

The blurring stops, and they're sat in an empty classroom. By the looks of the paintings on the walls and the oil pastel marks on tables, they're in a classroom from Yoojung's high school. This really brings back memories.

"Since you put me in so much pain, it's your turn," Taeyeob says with a smirk. 

Is this really the creep that Yoojung used to be? He ignores the remark and gets up from his seat. 

You ever smell something, and get hit by a huge wave of memories, both good and bad? That's what's happening to Yoojung right now. His brain tunes out the sound of Kyubin and Taeyeob arguing behind him, and instead tunes into the sound of the students chattering outside of this classroom.

It really brings back so many memories. He's remembering all the times he was bullied for things out of his control. He was known as the guy who took ballet classes, the one who looks like a bunny, the one who looks like a baby chick, the one who was too happy.

But it's years later. Those comments shouldn't do anything to him now. He's a much bigger person than he was in high school. 

He braces himself and walks towards the door. He's going to face his old fears, and he's going to prove to all the fuckers who doubted and bullied him for being himself. No one should be afraid of doing what they love. 

"Yoojung, No!" 

He feels a strong hand on his shoulder, and his surroundings are blurring again. He lets go of the handle and lets everything happen.

And again, they're back behind the same building that they were just a few minutes ago. Yoojung stands up and stalks towards Taeyeob with squared shoulders. He lifts up his hand and puts _all_ of his strength into slapping the younger male.

"I don't know who you think you are, but you're not going to come into this world and fuck shit up. All of the pain you're feeling is because _you_ don't know how to suck it up and keep it mind that people are going to talk regardless."

Taeyeob looks up at him with a disgusting scowl, and huffs a laugh. 

"You don't know how lucky you are."

"Just... go somewhere. And remember that I'm ending your life the next time I see you," Kyubin cuts in. With that, he grips on Yoojung's arm and drags him towards the parking lot.


	8. -8

As Yoojung is being dragged away, he thinks about everything that has happened. The craziness of it all doesn't get to him until now. 

He pulls his arm from Kyubin's grip and turns him around to face him, holding onto both his shoulders. "What is going on?" Yoojung asks. "I'll tell you once we're not standing in the middle of the street to get ran over."

Yoojung laughs nervously and shyly apologizes to the car impatiently waiting behind them. A finger may have been thrown up in the process.

They make it back to where Yongsu and Nine are talking inside of the car. How calm they are is surprising, because the two of them can't even go a few seconds without arguing about something stupid.

Kyubin knocks on Yongsu's side of the window, and Yongsu's face lights up in shock before he calls for Nine's attention. The both of them rush out of the car and tackle Yoojung in a hug.

"Big bro, we missed you! We thought you died for a second!" Nine says, a bit too enthusiastically.

Yoojung feels light hands digging around in his jacket pocket, and Nine is pulling out a 20 dollar bill from his wallet. "Someone may have ran over the bag with my snacks in it, so I'm gonna have to go buy them again."

Yongsu pulls away and slaps the back of Nine's head, making his hair stick up a bit.

"I told you to get the bags out the street, but you didn't listen to me. Besides that, where'd you guys go off to?" Yongsu says.

Kyubin looks to Yoojung for his consent, and when he nods, Kyubin gestures for everyone to get in the car. "Nine, call up Jisung."

• • •

It's been a while since they've last been to that little area close to their school, and it's been even longer since Yoojung and Yongsu have seen Kyubin's little woodworking shop.

Kyubin pulls out a small key and unlocks the door, letting in the three younger. 

When they walk in, they see a guy with platinum and blue dyed hair spinning around in a rolling chair on his phone. Yoojung assumes that this is Jisung. 

Jisung picks his head up, and his eyes get wider when he sees Kyubin and Nine. He gets out of his seat and goes in towards them for a hug with his arms open.

"It's been so long! What are you guys up to? Nine, did you finally get a girlfriend?" Jisung banters. 

It's only been a few minutes, but Yoojung really likes this guy. He radiates good energy, and if he's friends with Kyubin and Nine, then he must for sure be a cool guy to hang with. 

"Why am I so rude," Kyubin says under his breath, "Yongsu and Yoojung, this is Jisung. Me and him have been friends since freshman year of college."

The two roommates wave at Jisung, who smiles widely at them in return. Yoojung really likes this guy. He's gonna note down in his head later on to trust him.

"But this meeting isn't exactly for a little reunion," Kyubin starts, "I know you guys are wondering what the hell is going on, and we'll tell you, so don't worry. We're probably the only people who know about this too, unless, you know..." Kyubin turns to Nine and gives him a look. Nine nods and purses his lips.

Kyubin goes to the back of the shop and grabs a container holding some small green object. He opens the container and lightly places it in the middle of his hand, walking back to the group.

"This is a sage leaf. Yes, it's just a leaf, but just give me a chance. All of you put your finger on it and concentrate."

The boys do just that. It seems like Nine and Jisung listened to him right away, while Yoojung and Yongsu are hesitant about it all. After a while, Yoojung gives in, and Yongsu does the same once he feels like Yoojung can trust them.

The same thing that happened outside is happening again. Everything around Yoojung is blurring and swirling, and the only thing he can clearly see are the four others. His ears start to ring and burn, and he's tightly shutting his eyes, silently hoping that the pain stops quickly.

Almost a minute later, the blurring is coming to a halt and he's slowly becoming aware of his surroundings. He looks around and notices that he's in a familiar area. They're standing on the school's rooftop. He can hear loud crying and pleading going on somewhere, and not to mention that it's unusually hot, which is strange, because they're right in the middle of winter. 

"Woah, what the fuck, what the fuck!"

Yoojung snaps his head towards Jisung, who's pointing at some person in a black hoodie backing up a group of people-- who look almost _suspiciously_ a lot like them--towards the edge of the rooftop. And now that he looks closer,

That is them.

Yoojung sees that they're with some guy with a cute round face and brown hair who he's seen around school multiple times, and the blond waiter from that cafe. Sage, was it? He can hear some cracking and popping going on in the background, the strong smell of burnt metal, and the tip of a fire peaking from behind the group of boys.

"No, stop!" Yongsu shouts, getting ready to run towards them and stop whatever is happening, but it seems that Nine and Kyubin are too quick with getting a hold onto both his arms and holding him back.

They watch how the hooded figure forces the group of guys to take one small step back before they're all going their way down the edge of the roof, and to their deaths. They can see how the fire got bigger, and it's like everything around them is starting to melt because it is just so _hot_.

Yoojung completely loses it, and starts breaking down. He's getting a heavy feeling in his chest, and he's crying and screaming for someone to help him, and for someone to take him back to when everything was normal. The feeling in his chest gets heavier, and it feels like he's about to explode. 

It doesn't last forever when he smells the sweet scent of Yongsu's shampoo right under his nose, and he looks down to see a full head of washed out red hair. Yongsu has his arms wrapped tightly around him, and he's shushing and whispering things into the side of his neck. He wishes that he can understand what he's saying, but the world around him is starting to blur up again. 

Instead of feeling pain, he's starting to feel something else. He's getting a warm, happy feeling inside his chest, and he lets out a sigh.

Something about this feels familiar, but whatever it is, it's making him very fucking sleepy.


End file.
